A Maharashtra government commission has rejected a 16-year-old girl’s permission to donate a portion of her liver to her dying father, claiming that she did not accept the dangerous treatment of her own free will. The girl had petitioned the Bombay High Court through her mother, requesting that the state government expedite the processing of her plea for permission to donate a portion of her liver.
While rejecting the application, the state authorization committee, chaired by the director of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER), stated that the committee could not rule out the possibility of emotional pressure and could not confirm that the minor daughter’s consent was given freely.
According to her petition, the girl’s father has ‘decompensated liver cirrhosis.’
Last week, the high court asked the state government to make a judgement on her case and notify her accordingly.
On Wednesday, the girl’s lawyer, Tapan Thatte, presented the authorization committee’s report denying the application before a vacation bench of Justices AK Menon and NR Borkar.
As per the report, the receiver (the girl’s father) was a habitual drinker, which was the likely cause of his hepatic failure, and there was no documentation of his recovery.
The committee also recognised that the girl is her parents’ sole child.
The high court granted the girl’s request to amend her plea in order to contest the committee’s report and deferred the case until Friday (May 13).
According to the plea, the petitioner’s father was recommended to get a liver transplant in March. Other than the daughter, no other close family was deemed to be medically appropriate as a donor.
However, because she is a juvenile, she cannot donate her liver to her father unless the Organ Transplantation Act’s committee allows it, as per the petition.